his darkness and desolation would come, with silence of reapers and
birds, with fading of leaf and flower, a great sorrow fell on his heart.

Balder could bear the burden no longer. He went out, called all the gods
together, and told them the terrible dreams of the night. Every face was
heavy with care. The death of Balder would be like the going out of the
sun, and after a long, sad council the gods resolved to protect him
from harm by pledging all things to stand between him and any hurt. So
Frigg, his mother, went forth and made everything promise, on a solemn
oath, not to injure her son. Fire, iron, all kinds of metal, every sort
of stone, trees, earth, diseases, birds, beasts, snakes, as the anxious
mother went to them, solemnly pledged themselves that no harm should
come near Balder. Everything promised, and Frigg thought she had driven
away the cloud; but fate was stronger than her love, and one little
shrub had not sworn.

Odin was not satisfied even with these precautions, for whichever way he
looked the shadow of a great sorrow spread over the worlds. He began to
feel as if he were no longer the greatest of the gods, and he could
almost hear the rough shouts of the frost giants crowding the rainbow
bridge on their way into Asgard. When trouble comes to men it is hard to
bear, but to a god who had so many worlds to guide and rule it was a new
and terrible thing. Odin thought and thought until he was weary, but no
gleam of light could he find anywhere; it was thick darkness everywhere.

At last he could bear the suspense no longer, and saddling his horse he
rode sadly out of Asgard to Niflheim, the home of Hel, whose face was as
the face of death itself. As he drew near the gates, a monstrous dog
came out and barked furiously, but Odin rode a little eastward of the
shadowy gates to the grave of a wonderful prophetess. It was a cold,
gloomy place, and the soul of the great god was pierced with a feeling
of hopeless sorrow as he dismounted from Sleipner, and bending over the
grave began to chant weird songs, and weave magical charms over it. When
he had spoken those wonderful words which could waken the dead from
their sleep, there was an awful silence for a moment, and then a faint
ghost-like voice came from the grave.

"Who art thou?" it said. "Who breaketh the silence of death, and calleth
the sleeper out of her long slumbers? Ages ago I was laid at rest here,
snow and rain have fallen upon me through myriad